Wednesday, July 17, 2013

It
has been a fact that all who seek to pursue teaching as a career need to take
the Licensure Examination for Teachers or the LET, but very few really know
what the LET is, its purpose and significance in the education reform of the
Philippines.

The
LET was implemented in the Philippines throught the enactment of Republic Act
7836 or otherwise known as the “Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of
1994” on December 16, 1994. The enactment of the law didn’t mean that the
teachers in the Philippines were not “professional”. Rather it is a means to
strengthen and improve not just the teachers, but also the quality of education
and the whole education system in general. By improving the teachers, the
students will naturally follow the embetterment of those who lead them.

Before
R.A. 7836 was implemented, education in the Philippines was mostly regulated
and supervised by the National Board for Teachers (NBT). Even though R.A. 7836
was signed as law in 1994, the first LET exam was held two years later. On
August 1996, a total of 97,560 examinees took the first LET exam administered
by both the Board for Professional Teachers (BPT) and the Professional
Regulation Commission (PRC).

The
examination for teachers at the elementary level consists of only two parts:
the general education and the professional education; while the examination for
the secondary level consists of three parts: the general education,
professional education, and field of specialization. General education refers
to core subjects like Filipino, English, Math, Science, and Social
Science/Studies. Professional education refers to those related to the teaching
profession like Facilitating Learning, Early Childhood and Adolescent
Development and Education, Principles of Teaching, Methods and Strategies,
Curriculum Development, and the Teaching Profession as a whole. Lastly the
field of specialization refers to the specific discipline the secondary
teachers have to teach like English, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Filipino, Social
Studies, Music, Art, Physical Education and Health or MAPEH. Nowadays, there
are usually 150 items for general education, 150 for professional education and
150 test items for the field of specialization which are taken for more or less
3 hours each for each part.

Because
of this law, aspiring teachers must now get a license first before being able
to teach in the public schools. Although the law requires a teacher to have a
license, some private schools still accept fresh graduates who have yet to take
the Licensure Exam. This is in part due to the lack of qualified teachers in
teaching specialization subjects or vocational skills.

Since the
implementation of the law, there has been a significant change in the method of
teaching in the Philippines. Teachers who used to rely on textbooks have now
begun to innovate their own teaching methods and strategies. The emphasis on
continuing professional education (CPE), or taking the masteral and doctorate
degrees, has now been more pursued by teachers who didn’t want to get left
behind on the educational changes happening around them. Having more confidence
in their teaching skill, teachers perform better and so do their students.